VIEW ORIGINAL
The path which led David Battle to walk onto the stage at Toftoy Hall was a long, difficult road.
On April 30, Battle shared his story which took him from All-American football player at Auburn University to prison, to sobriety, to deputy director of Partnership for a Drug-Free Community.
“I came into the field because I wanted to make a difference,” Battle said. “I wanted to step into the lives of kids and be able to share and walk with them on a journey. Because a lot of times when you’re young, you don’t have those people to walk with you through the pain.”
The Army and Redstone Arsenal helped shape Battle’s early life. His mother worked at building 5250 for more than 20 years and retired from civil service. Battle’s father was a Vietnam veteran who never talked about the war.
Battle’s story is rooted in football. His father coached him in little league football.
“That’s where I found something I can do to get my family to the next level,” he said. “I was always a little bigger than everybody else. I put my all in football.”
Battle also believed in family.
“My biggest belief is in the power and strength of family,” he said. “No matter what, we take care of each other.”
Battle’s story, which had both Battle and attendees wiping tears from their eyes, is a compelling journey through football and family and how these two dreams were destroyed by addiction and mental illness.
“I would become All-American, had 47 scholarship offers, I was the first freshman to start on the varsity team with coach (Paul) Parvin at Johnson High School,” Battle said. “We would go on my sophomore year to beat the No. 1 team in the nation. I started getting letters and offers in high school.”
This was also the time alcohol began to control the defensive lineman’s life. His first drink was a beer with his football buddies.
“I got my first beer down and threw it up,” he said. “I got the second one down and I felt something change in me. I felt something warm inside me. I felt different. I felt like I belonged.
“They would feed me the power and that opened up something. I didn’t realize it then but, when I got that first beer in me, it was something in me that activated. I carried it in me and didn’t know it. And I wouldn’t really recognize it on down the line.”
With his father in prison, his mom had to take a second job at Captain D’s to try and make ends meet.
“When momma was gone, I started drinking in the backyard. At 16, I went to the state store and started buying liquor,” Battle recalled. “Choices I made while I was drinking would tear me down early, but I didn’t see it.”
Battle was able to cover his drinking and convince others it wasn’t a problem. He signed with Auburn and remembered meeting Pat Dye, the Auburn coach. He had his photo made with the legendary coach. The photo shows a black eye and several deep cuts on Battle’s face. He’d been in a bar fight the night before. He couldn’t even fit his helmet over his head for the swelling.
But here he was, an SEC football player.
Battle was on the field at Jordan-Hare Stadium, the nation's 11th-largest on-campus stadium. It was the first day of spring practice at Auburn.
“I stepped through a player. I was playing nose guard,” he said. “It caught my knee and rolled my knee. My knee went this way, my body went that way. My knee went in. Tore the ACL, MCL and PCL.”
Battle met with Dye and they talked about his situation. Battle remembers the coach talking to him with his slow, southern drawl.
“Son, it don’t look like you gonna ever be able to play again,” Dye said.
It was devastating to hear.
“And it broke me,” Battle said. “I hear this shotgun go off in my body. All I knew was my dream was gone. My chance to make it was gone.”
Battle came back to Huntsville to recover. He had a child with his girlfriend. The couple married. He saw her as a lifeline.
“Our commitment to one another would change my life,” Battle said. “We talked about the importance of family and the importance of sticking together.
“The importance of always being there for each other. Those were the moral foundations of our relationship.”
Battle wouldn’t make things easy.
His drinking picked back up and he turned to selling crack out of his foreclosed house. He thought he could make his money back and go back to school. An $800 phone bill was preventing him from re-enrolling at Auburn.
“I didn’t think I would try crack,” Battle said.
He paused and wiped his eyes before continuing.
“Then I tried crack for the first time, just like when I got that first beer in me. Something changed in me. To me I call it the ‘Big Game High.’ That’s what it reminded me of. The high, because it’s a stimulant, gave me a feeling like I’m running out in front of thousands of people cheering.
“I was done. I was chasing crack from that point on. Selling to make enough to get some more.”
The headline in The Huntsville Times read, “Former Auburn football player arrested on a robbery charge.”
“I could hear the Devil right there, laughing,” Battle said. “I could hear that voice in me. ‘You’re never gonna be nothing. You’re just like your daddy. Everything you ever said you wanted to be is gone.’”
Battle entered a treatment program for his crack cocaine addiction.
“I would end up drinking after treatment for the crack,” Battle said. “I didn’t think alcohol was a drug, even though I started reading in the treatment material that alcohol is a drug. ‘Do not be confused, alcohol is a drug. It’s a mood- or mind-altering substance.’ But I didn’t think it was for me: ‘It’s legal, everybody drinks.’
“But everybody didn’t drink like I drank. I didn’t recognize that until I was stopped. My cases caught up to me, and I went to prison.”
Battle’s life changed in prison. He committed to recovery.
“Who was going to be there for my boys if I didn’t get it right?” he said. “I learned about addiction and how alcohol changes your brain. Addiction is a disease. I can’t get rid of it, I got to treat it, I got to stay on top of this thing no matter what. I committed to it. I committed to God. I sat in those pews. I learned about my savior. I learned about my God while I was in church.
“I had a fellowship and learned a way to live without the drugs and alcohol. I had some people I could talk to that connected with that side of me. I would go on, get out of prison. Committed to go back to school. Went back to Auburn on Operation Follow Through and got five degrees. I listen to God when I’m sober. I’ve been that way for 27 years, now.
“I’m blessed to be working in this field and walking people through this process. Blessed to be working in prevention.”
April was Alcohol Awareness Month, and May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Battle’s story touches on both.
“We’re talking about the juncture of mental health, alcohol, drugs,” he said. “I’ll say – choices and addiction.”
While introducing Battle to the attendees gathered in Toftoy Hall on April 30, Michelle Bourman, Army substance abuse prevention coordinator, pointed to the connection between addiction and mental health.
“The heavy use of alcohol and mental health are closely intertwined, with one often impacting the other,” Bourman said. “If you see how frequently alcohol can contribute to major depression, mood disorders, and other things. Alcohol is often a gateway drug, leading to other drug abuse and addiction. Alcoholism and heavy drinking can exacerbate mental health symptoms, which in turn can lead to increased risk of self-harm and suicide.”
Bourman and Battle know how important it is to reach out to those who are struggling.
“It’s important if we recognize we are struggling or someone we know is struggling, or we know somebody who is struggling understanding alcohol can be contributing to that and recommending they get help,” Bourman said.
“Be aware of your mental health,” Battle said. “We are in a time when we can address those things and addiction. Do what you need to do and get the people you love to the place they need.”
Social Sharing